Monthly Archives: May 2012

More than 150 students streamed into the booth to pour out their personal anecdotes about bullying.

They revealed an array of raw stories from all perspectives — the bully, the bullied and the bystanders — as well as how they try to “bullyproof” themselves.

This remains the sad reality. This is what our kids have to live with when we send them to school. This is what they have to live with in so many of their activities beyond school.

We’re just not doing a good enough job to get rid of bullying. Yes, it has always existed and to a degree, it will always be there. But it has evolved into something that follows kids into their “safe places”. And somehow people say, “You can’t get rid of bullying, so…” Well, maybe we can’t get rid of it. But shouldn’t we stomp on it at every possible opportunity?

School boards, Administrators and Teachers need to read this article. It’s simple, it’s clear and it makes sense.

Banning (personal technology) is not the answer. Administrators need policies for today’s students and teachers need to update outdated practices. We’re well into the 21st century and it’s time for schools to encourage educators to start using methods that will prepare students for their future rather than relying on the comfortable policies and methods of the past.

I am happy to say that at our school board, the shift to providing access and infrastructure is becoming the focus. Part of it, no doubt, was a quick electronic polling (opening routers to connections and counting) in a couple of our schools showed THOUSANDS of devices ready to connect.

The reality is there. We need to step back into a leadership position and stop asking students to “dumb down” technologically when they walk through the doors of their schools.

George Lucas is a filmmaker and founder of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, publisher of Edutopia. He shares his thoughts on the benefits of education today in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day.

There is no other job more important than education. It is the foundation of our democracy. By seizing on what’s working, and recreating those successes from one classroom to the next, we can make it better for everyone.

So, if you’re trying to produce compliant, dead-brained, formulaic workers, our system is doing exactly what it was designed for. (I should add “grade-obsessed” to that cadre of properties.) But in a society where innovation is simply everything, it is a cultural and moral failure to encourage this compliance.